Jess Smith

Jesse W. "Jess" Smith (1871-30 May 1923) was an aide to US Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty during the Harding administration. As Daugherty's aide, he was involved in government corruption.

Biography
Jesse W. Smith was born in 1871, and he came to Washington DC to work as an aide to US Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty. Smith had no official title at the Department of Justice, but he had a desk and wielded considerable influence. Smith sold government liquor permits to bootlegger George Remus on behalf of the corrupt Daugherty, and he was a middleman in several criminal dealings. By 1923, the Harding administration was being probed for corruption, and Smith became paranoid, suffering an emotional breakdown at a Boy Scout meeting in the capital. When Daugherty betrayed political boss Enoch Thompson by using him as a scapegoat, Thompson decided to work together with Assistant Attorney Esther Randolph and Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon to indict Remus, which would expose Smith's corruption, as well as Daugherty's role in corrupt practices. After Remus' arrest, Daugherty saw Smith as a liability, and he sent Gaston Means to murder him. However, Smith shot himself before Means could do the job, putting an end to the affair.